Charity group to set up seven Covid-19 treatment centers and send respiratory equipment to India.
Caritas Singapore, the social action arm of Singapore Archdiocese, has launched a campaign to raise funds to help India fight the deadly Covid-19 pandemic.
India has been at the center of global attention as the second wave of the contagion has caused a catastrophe in the nation of 1.3 billion. India has registered more than 20 million cases and over 220,000 deaths. Over the past week, the country has been recording more than 300,000 new cases and over 3,000 deaths daily.
Caritas India earlier made an urgent appeal for global solidarity to help it respond to the second wave of the pandemic ravaging the country.
Officials from Caritas Humanitarian Aid and Relief Initiatives Singapore (CHARIS) said they hoped to raise S$300,000 (US$224,556) to provide monetary aid and supplies to India.
Thanks to generous individual and institutional donations, India Covid-19 Response, a joint partnership between Singapore Red Cross, Caritas Singapore and Caritas India, has raised more than three times the expected amount, according to the CHARIS website.
“CHARIS would like to express our deepest gratitude for the overwhelming support and generosity that you had shown towards the India Covid-19 Response. In a span of a few days, we have received more than three times our initial target. We have closed this campaign as we have surpassed our initial target and are working with our partner organizations towards the judicious and effective ways of deploying the funds as we continue to receive additional requests from our collaborators on the ground,” CHARIS said on its website.
CHARIS has also joined with Singapore Red Cross (SRC), which made a public appeal on April 28 to trade bodies and charities to donate to a fund for India’s Covid-19 relief.
SRC received an overwhelming response and raised more than $500,000 in four days from its online and offline platforms and via Give.asia, reported The Straits Times.
In collaboration with Caritas India, CHARIS aims to set up seven Covid-19 treatment centers to offer basic medical services to patients.
CHARIS is also partnering with SRC to purchase and send respiratory equipment to India.
Various charities and trade bodies have also been raising funds to support India’s Covid-19 battle.
The Indus Entrepreneurs Singapore, the local chapter of a leading global entrepreneur and investor foundation, launched Mission India on April 29. It aims to raise S$1.3 million by May 12 to offer medical supplies to India. It reported that $75,000 was raised in less than a day.
Makan For Hope, a charity that encourages entrepreneurs and industry leaders to donate to society, announced that full amounts collected from participants joining Makan for Hope sessions in May will be donated to SRC.
Meanwhile, Singapore’s government has sent two planeloads of oxygen cylinders to India to help the country tackle an acute, unprecedented oxygen crisis due to the pandemic.
The shipment was made by the Republic of Singapore Air Force in two C-130 planes to West Bengal, one of the worst-hit states in India.
In addition, Singapore also shipped medical equipment including oxygen-related supplies to India on May 2.
